Protocol Overview

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Family Control and Organization #210501

Protocol Release Date

May 31, 2016

Protocol Name From Source

Family Environment Scale (FES), 2009

Description of Protocol

The System Maintenance protocol includes 18 self-administered, true/false questions from two subscales (Organization, Control) of the Family Environment Scale (FES), Fourth Edition. The respondent reviews each item and chooses whether each item is characteristic (True) or not characteristic (False) of their family. The FES Manual includes a Scoring Key for each true/false item. This protocol is appropriate for adults and children aged 11 and older.

Specific Instructions

The Family Environment Scale (FES) is a proprietary instrument. Each Family Environment subscale is a part of a complete FES assessment and is not sold separately. To administer a subscale requires a licensing agreement from Mind Garden, Inc. While the Social Environments Working Group recognizes that there are many definitions of family, the FES is intended for use among parents and children. Parents may include both biological and nonbiological (e.g., step- or adoptive) relationships.

Protocol

Summary of the Control and Organizational Subscales from the Family Environment Scale

Items from the Organization subscale include whether activities are planned out, the importance of punctuality, and whether duties are clearly defined. Items from the Control subscale include the importance of rules, whether family members are ordered around, and whether family members each have an equal say in family matters.

The test booklets feature three types of forms. The Real Form items ask the respondent to describe his or her current family as he or she perceives it. Real Form items can also be used to describe a respondent’s past family environment (i.e., childhood environment).

The Ideal Form and Expectations Form allow people to describe the type of family they prefer or their expectations of what a family will be like. The Ideal Form and Expectations Form are typically used in therapeutic settings and are not generally considered for research purposes.

Scoring Instructions

Each True/False item is assigned a value of 0 or 1, based on the scoring key. Items are then combined within the two subscales (Organization and Control). To combine these subscales into a single Family Control and Organization score, the subscales can be summed or averaged. Higher scores reflect higher levels of Family Organization and Control.

The Social Environments Working Group recommends the use of the raw scores from the Real Form (or their standardized counterparts) that can be further averaged across family members for an overall measure of global family environment. The Family Environments Scale Manual contains directions for creating Family Incongruence scores based on differences in scores across family members, but these scores are primarily utilized in therapeutic settings and are generally not validated for research.

The Family Environment Scale (FES), Fourth Edition, was selected because it is a widely used protocol with lots of current research on validity, reliability, and association with outcomes. Additionally, the FES Manual contains detailed data on transforming raw scores into standardized scores based on extensive normative data. Means are also given for various subpopulations (e.g., adults vs. adolescents, distressed vs. nondistressed families, single-parent families, Latino and African-American families). Because the FES assesses general characteristics of the family rather than behaviors in a specific time frame, this measure is appropriate both for assessments of current family environment and retrospective reports of family environment during childhood.

No specific training is needed if data are collected through a self-administered questionnaire.

Equipment Needs

These questions can be administered in a computerized or noncomputerized format (i.e., paper-and pencil instrument). Computer software is necessary to develop computer-assisted instruments. The interviewer will require a laptop computer or handheld computer to administer or to allow the respondent to self-administer a computer-assisted questionnaire.